German insurance companies stand accused of putting the wind up American policy holders and profiteering from climate change scare stories based on their own quasi-scientific reports Der Spiegel reported on Thursday.

[…] scientists are furious, saying the insurance company has no proof to support the claim. “Most [of the study] doesn’t make sense, and it contradicts observations,” atmosphere researcher Clifford Mass from University of Washington in Seattle told the magazine.

According to Wikipedia, last year Munich RE equity amounted to €23.0 billion. The group’s premium income for the year (gross premiums written) was €45.5 billion, with its consolidated profit amounting to €2.430 billion. In February 2010, U.S. investor Warren Buffett became Munich Re’s largest single shareholder with 10.2 percent of the company.

Pielke Jr. reported in 2010 of a newspaper investigation which revealed that predictions of increased hurricane damage resulted in a $82 billion (billion, no typo) windfall to the reinsurance industry.